(Newser)
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The better Barack Obama’s foreign excursion goes, the more nervous Republicans get, Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times. Images of John McCain happily sharing a golf cart with Bush 41 don’t contrast well with images of Obama happily sharing a helicopter with David Petraeus. But there is also an element of arrogance in the trip.

Dowd notes, "At moments, Obama was acting as though he were already 'on a coin,' as Jon Stewart would say. But cocky or not, he needs to swoop up to conquer so Americans can picture him in the role." And he seems to have succeeded. "The guy gets it,” one Jordanian official said. “Sharp, aware, and a very good listener."